Who's Who

A brief biography of the principal FLSE executives and representatives is provided here, together with their primary contact details.

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Malcolm Reeve
Chair

Malcolm has worked in the field of special education since 1981.  Initially in the adult sector, he moved to schools in 1984 and taught in the comprehensive system in Shropshire focusing on children with moderate learning difficulties.  In 1989 he became Head of Mathematics and Head of Curriculum in a special school in Hertfordshire where he supervised the introduction of the new National Curriculum.  In 1993 he was appointed Deputy Headteacher of a school for children with moderate learning difficulties and in 2000 was appointed Headteacher of a school for children with moderate learning difficulties and autism in Essex.  In 2007 he became Headteacher of a second special school in Essex for children with severe, complex and profound difficulties and is currently Chief Executive over both schools.

In addition to his wide experience in the field of special education with all types of cognitive, physical and complexity of learning difficulty Malcolm has a wider brief in promoting the training and education of those working in the SEN field and sharing best practice.  Most important for him is the development of integrated therapy services for children with special education needs and the social inclusion of people with cognitive disabilities in society which underpins the New Model Special School concept.

Tel: 01245 491492
Mob: 07811 550973
Email: malcolm.reeve@flse.org.uk
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David Bateson
Vice-Chair

David is currently the Executive Principal of Ash Field School and Assistive Technology Assessment Centre in Leicester. Ash Field is a Leicester maintained day and residential school for learners of all abilities (P levels to post-GCSE) and disabilities aged 4-19 from across the East Midlands. Ash Field is in the ‘Ofsted hall of fame’ which lists 1% of schools, having been named three times as excellent in annual HMCI reports. 

David has been a primary Ofsted inspector, an external adviser in secondary schools, a threshold assessor, a consultant leader, a SIP, a Regional Leader for NCSL, an IiP assessor, and a Trustee of the EMLC.  He has worked on a number of bodies including DCSF and Cabinet Office working parties, NAHT and local secondary, cross-phase and special head teacher groups, each of which he has chaired. He is also a Local and National Leader of Education.

Previously David was head of a national charity residential school for speech and language disorders which was named as outstanding in the HMCI report.

Tel: 0116 273 7151
Mob: 07702 369995
Email: david.bateson@flse.org.uk
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Pauline Miller
National Administrator

Pauline's role within the FLSE is to provide administrative support to the Chief Executive Officer and Strategic Development Group. This includes a variety of activities including such things as arranging meetings, booking venues and taking Minutes at meetings - and with many busy diaries to control this is no mean feat. 

Before having her family, Pauline's career included experience of working for a firm of Chartered Accountants for several years and she was then PA to the Finance Director of Britvic Soft Drinks plc.  For the past 11 years she has had the privilege of working at Columbus School and College in Chelmsford as the Administration Manager and PA to the Chief Executive, Malcolm Reeve.  Columbus is a large special needs school for children and young people aged 3 – 19 years with complex, severe and profound learning difficulties.

She enjoys keeping fit and spends much of her spare time enjoying leisure activities with her family.

Tel: 01245 491492
Mob: 07941 510011
Email: pauline.miller@flse.org.uk

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Natalie Bambridge
Finance Assistant

Email: natalie.bambridge@flse.org.uk

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Barry Payne
Chair - East Region

Barry Payne is the Head Teacher of Parkside School in Norwich.

Originally from Devon, Barry started his teaching career in Hampshire at an 11-16  High School.  After 3 years, he moved to Hertfordshire where he took up a Scale 2 position in an 11-18 Secondary School in the middle of Stevenage.  It was here that he started to work with children with Special Educational Needs and he developed a course for children who were not able to take examinations under the banner of the Technical Vocational Educational Initiative.  This proved very successful and, on the strength of this, Barry moved into a Special School as Senior Teacher in charge of the 16-19 sector.  This, too, was in Hertfordshire and, during his first few years, he completed an advanced qualification in Special Educational Needs at Cambridge.  

Barry then moved onto Kent, where he was Deputy Head Teacher of a 4-19 Special School and, finally, in 1997, he became Head Teacher of The Parkside School in Norwich and has remained there to the present day.  

The school caters for a wide range of learning difficulties and other associated problems, including a number of children on the Autistic Spectrum.  The school has recently become a Specialist College for Communication and Interaction and this is on the strength of a number of very good Ofsted inspections.  

As well as Head Teacher at Parkside School, Barry has been a Trustee of Asperger East Anglia and has sat on many Local Authority Development Boards, including the Chairing of the Autistic Spectrum Disorder Development Group which is now part of the Local Authorities SEN Strategy.  

In his social life Barry enjoys family life, including holidays that involve walking and trekking, and sport of a wide variety – both watching and playing when time permits, and socialising with friends.

Barry's contact details are:

Tel:  01603 441126
Fax:  01603 441128
Email:  barry.payne@flse.org.uk

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Mark Dale-Emberton
Chair - London Region

Mark is the Head Teacher of Charlton School in South East London and is the parent of two young boys. He is an accredited School improvement partner and has over 12 years experience as a special school head teacher in South East London and is on his third headship. With support, he has taken schools out of special measures, been seconded into other schools in difficulties and then taken a lead in the strategic local reorganization of special provision creating larger organizations.

He has worked within the Special sector locally now for 23 years, with a sizable population of SEN pupils living in some of the poorest wards in the country and 60% free school meals, with their parents having an average 3 year lower life expectancy from other London Boroughs due to a range of factors. Charlton School has been partly rebuilt, and is now on one site but is currently oversubscribed and has a number of accommodation pressures.

The school has a range of BESD, SLD, PMLD and ASD with 160+ students, with an ever changing profile so that the range of complexity and severity of need continues to grow. The school also has a small weekly residential unit, thus keeping children local and also runs SEN outreach services for over 8 years serving another 500 children across the London region.

Mark firmly believes that we need to forge new ways of developing partnerships, working across traditional service boundaries to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of high cost SEN pupils and support community groups and parents in new ways.

Tel: 020 8319 9350
Email: mark.dale-emberton@flse.org.uk

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Richard Ware
Chair - Yorks & Humberside Region

Richard Ware is a headteacher in Kirklees MC which is the district centred on Huddersfield and Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. This is a vibrant multi-cultural area with many advantages but also its share of challenges and needs.  Richard has 32 years teaching experience within the special school sector, predominantly SLD/PLD but also spells in a generic school, peripatetic work in a Sensory Service and as deputy head in moderate & complex needs resource.

Richard was previously head at Highfields SLD/PLD School for seven years and is now head at Fairfield since 2004 another SLD/PLD provision for 110 pupils aged 3 to 19 years. New build PFI facilities opened in 2006 Fairfield is an ECO School and will commence Specialist Status in Communication & Interaction from September 2010.

Richard has chaired the Special School Headteachers Group in Kirklees for too many years to remember and also work closely with the local authority on specialist work streams as well as strategic planning and communication groups. He has been involved with the Yorkshire & Humber special schools group and FLSE for the past two years and hopes to see this network develop in the future.

Currently Kirklees is facing many challenges associated with the cuts in the BSF programme and financial constraints and there is clearly a rapidly changing relationship between schools and their local authorities. Richard is looking to develop new working partnerships with schools and services across the local area in order to make the most effective and innovative use of scarce resources.

Away from work he enjoys family life with partner of 34 years and two almost fully grown children. Loves the outdoor life and is currently looking forward to launching Martha, a 28” yacht at the culmination of a successful restoration project.

Tel: 01924 326103
Mob: 07930 538933
Fax: 01924 326111
Email: richard.ware@flse.org.uk

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Stephen Roberts
Chair - North West Region

Stephen is currently in his second headship position as the Principal of St Vincent’s School for the Blind and Partially Sighted in Liverpool and has now been a serving head teacher for over twenty years in two very different settings, his first headship being in an SEBD school.  Both schools provide residential placement. His experience is such that Stephen has worked in a wide range of SEN settings in the independent, maintained and non maintained sector

Stephen’s work has involved him in being seconded and successfully supporting schools that have been in difficulty.

He is currently Chairman of the Visual Impairment Association. He has also served on the NAHT SEN committee for many years and is currently in his second year as a Leadership Network Regional Leader for the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services.
 
Tel: 0151 228 9968
Email: stephen.roberts@flse.org.uk

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Hugh Steele
Chair - North East Region

Hugh is a practicing Head Teacher with 30 years experience in special education provision, following a period of time in mainstream schools.

At present he is Head Teacher at East Hartford School in Northumberland. East Hartford is a maintained school which caters for children of primary age with a statement of special educational need categorised as either Autistic Spectrum Disorder Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties, Attention Deficit Disorder or Complex Needs, including Global Developmental Delay.

Hugh is a Special School SIP.  He is Chairperson of the Northumberland Association of Special School Head Teachers, and a member of the North East of England Association of Special School Head Teachers. He is treasurer of Northumberland NAHT.

Hugh is an approved OFSTED inspector.  He holds a Masters degree in Educational Management.

For 15 years Hugh was a member of Northumberland National Park search and rescue team, including 3 years as Team Leader.

Tel: 01670 352556
Email: hugh.steele@flse.org.uk

Ann Standley
Chair - East Midlands Region

Ann is the head teacher at West Gate School in Leicester City. West Gate is a broad spectrum school for pupils aged from 4-19 years which also has specialist autism provision in the primary and secondary phases. The school is situated on a split site in the west of Leicester and is one of the original twelve ‘trailblazer’ specialist special schools with a specialism in cognition and learning.

Ann trained as a secondary English teacher and moved into special education in the mid 80’s. She has been a head teacher since 1995 when she opened a new primary MLD/ASD school following a local authority review. In 2003, she was asked to act as Head teacher of a neighbouring SLD/PMLD whilst retaining her substantive headship. The two schools were merged in 2006. Ann was appointed head teacher and for the second time in her career, was charged with establishing a new school. West Gate was recently judged by Ofsted to be a good school with many outstanding features less than four years after opening and is a best practice school for Person Centred Approaches.

Locally Ann sits as the Special School representative on the Schools Development Support Agency, the Learning Disabilities Partnership Board and LA working groups.

Ann has been one of two head teachers representing Leicester City at East Midlands Regional SEN meetings which is where her interest in regional networking  and sharing of good practice and commitment to the value of a regional voice has arisen and led to her enthusiasm for supporting the development of FLSE in the East Midlands.

Ann believes passionately in personalisation and particularly person centred approaches as a means for students to be active participants in their education, in determining their future and in challenging society’s attitudes to young people with SEN.

Tel: 0116 285 6181
Fax: 0116 285 8298
Email: ann.standley@flse.org.uk